How to Convert Your Foreign Driver’s License to A Macedonian Driver’s License

If you’d like to convert your foreign driver’s license to a Macedonian driver’s license, it helps if you prepare yourself with a list of words and phrases that’s important when applying for one. The steps to get a Macedonian Driver’s license are pretty straightforward though, please find the step-by-step process below.

Step 1: Check the Requirements at the website of Macedonia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs

Your first step should be to check the requirements at the website of Macedonia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. Head to termin.mvr.gov.mk and click “Потребни Документи,” or “required documents” in English.

Once you enter that page, find and click “Возачка Дозвола” (Vozachka Dozvola) on the left side. That means “Driver’s License.”

On that page, find “Замена на Странска Возачка Дозвола за Македонска Возачка Дозвола (Zamena na Stranska Vozachka Dozvola za Makedonska Vozachka Dozvola.” That means: “Replacement of a Foreign Driver’s License for a Macedonian Driver’s License.” And that’s where you’ll find the list of requirements.

The Requirements to Convert Your Foreign Driver’s license to Macedonian driver’s license

You may find the requirements and its translation below:

Step 2: Fill-out the Application Form

You can get the application form at the police station, and you can fill it out on the day you plan to submit your documents.

If you want to see how the application to convert your foreign driver’s license to a Macedonian Driver’s License looks like, here’s a pdf version I found online. It doesn’t seem like they change the form annually, but I suggest you to get the form at the police station where you want to apply just to be sure.

Step 3: Bring Your Valid Macedonian Residence Card

On the day of your application, bring your valid Macedonian Residence card. They can only issue you a driver’s license within the validity of your Macedonian Residence card. So it’s better to apply for a driver’s license as soon as you get your Macedonian Residence Visa renewed.

Step 4: Translate and Notarize your Foreign Driver’s License.

Have your foreign driver’s license translated and notarized. The translators need to be registered at Macedonia’s Ministry of Justice. That’s the only way their work can be considered legal and official. You can find the list of official translators of different languages on this page. 

Once you get the stamped translation of your foreign driver’s license, go to a notary public, and have the document notarized.

Step 5: Get a Certificate of Residency in the town of the country you lived in where your driver’s license was issued.

Requirement number four on the table above states that you need to submit a “proof of residence for more than six months before the date of issuance of the foreign driver’s license.” I believe that this is called the “Certificate of Residency.”

In the Philippines, you can get the certificate of residency in the barangay where you reside. You can request them to state that you’ve lived in the country until a certain date. For example, if your driver’s license was issued on August 25, 2017, the certificate of residency should show that you lived in the city from a certain date (i.e. date of birth) to September 2017. 

Step 6: Foreign Driver’s License

Bring your foreign driver’s license on the day of your application. 

In order to convert your foreign driver’s license to a Macedonian driver’s license, the foreign license needs to specify which categories of vehicles you can drive. If not, you need to submit a document that shows the only types you can drive. The document should also come from the authority that issued your foreign driver’s license. 

For Filipinos, you need to bring the receipt of the license as well. 

Note that the police will keep your foreign driver’s license when it gets replaced with a Macedonian one. If you ever want to switch back to your original license, you need to go to the police to ask for the two to be exchanged.

Step 7: Medical Certificate

Go to a public or private hospital and say “Lekarsko uverenie za vozachka dozvola” (Лекарско уверение за возачка дозвола). The medical staff would know what to do. 

Step 8: Schedule for an appointment.

Once you’ve compiled all the documents, you can already head back to Macedonia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs’ website, and schedule an appointment. 

8.1 Click “Закажување на Усплуга” or “Schedule an Appointment”

8.2 Enter the details of where you want to apply.

8.3 Enter more details and select the date of application.

Once you’ve compiled all the required documents and made a reservation, all that’s left is to submit your documents on the date you got an appointment.

Step 9: Submit your documents in person and pay.

The person-in-charge will check your documents thoroughly.

In my case, they checked the dates of my foreign license, and the certificate of residency thoroughly. They wanted to make sure that I was living in the Philippines when my driver’s license was issued. They also asked me several times when the driver’s license was issued. And when it was all approved, I paid MKD 280 to process the application.

It costs MKD 840 if you want to expedite the process of converting your foreign driver’s license to a Macedonian driver’s license. That, plus MKD 170 for the administrative procedure. 

Wrapping Up

That’s it! If you have your foreign driver’s license and the certificate of residency showing proof of where you’ve lived when the license was issued, everything else can be done in a day or two. I hope this English Guide on how to get a Macedonian driver’s license via your foreign license helps!

Have you converted your license already? If you have, share your experience in the comments below! If you haven’t and have some questions, feel free to ask in the comments section as well!

Frequently Asked Questions